Summary
- Institutions are bowing to pressure and are accepting DOGE for payment.
- Celebrity endorsements will only provide support to an established digital asset.
DOGE prices continued trading sideways today, going to lows of $0.0548 and rising back to $0.0561 at press time. At that price, DOGE/USD was up by about 1% over the previous 24 hours, but with year-to-date returns of +1,071%.
Going beyond endorsements
Dogecoin has risen through the crypto-ranks and now seems to be getting out of its parody status. Despite its claim to fame being exactly just fame, more institutions are accepting DOGE as payment.
While its intrinsic value is not yet clear, DOGE prices are steadily beginning to stabilize without endorsements. The value of a currency is only as good as its acceptability in the market. DOGE has carved a niche as a fan favorite and used that platform to gain a phenomenal 1,071% in the last year.
After endorsement by influential personalities such as Elon Musk, Gene Simmons, and Snoop Dogg, DOGE is now mature enough to fly off the nest. It is no longer “famous for being famous.”
Retail outlets, merchandisers, and institutions are increasingly adopting DOGE. Following earlier acceptance by Travela.com, Boy Real Estate, Daytona Nissan, and Stake Box, Dallas Mavericks are the latest to join the bandwagon.
In an announcement made by the NBA franchise owner Mark Cuban, the club announced that it will accept DOGE for tickets and merchandise. Mr. Cuban revealed that the Mavs had already made 20,000 worth of Dogecoins sales and predicted a $1 Dogecoin price soon.
In the retail sector luxury hotel operator, the Kessler Collection announced on Tuesday that its group of hotels would begin accepting Dogecoin for payment. The move will be made possible through a partnership with BitPay, which has also partnered with the Dallas Mavericks.
Elsewhere, CoinFlip alluded to the rising demand for Dogecoin while announcing the availability of the cryptocurrency in its ATMs. The announcement made last week means that DOGE’s availability will now spread across 1,800 ATMs in 46 states in the United States, thereby expanding its market footprint.
Medical supply and PPE supply giant, CovCare, also joined the DOGE bandwagon in mid-February. In making the groundbreaking move for the multi-billion dollar medical sector, the company announced that it will accept Dogecoin as an alternative form of payment. This shows that DOGE has now broken outside the shell of entertainment and recreation industries where celebrity influence is key.
Dogecoin’s popularity is here to stay
Dogecoin’s popularity-driven ascent is likely to stay for a longer period. The Shiba Inu Dog-themed cryptocurrency’s reputation as a fan favorite was recently epitomized by Hello Pal. According to the Canadian company, its February announcement of its investment in DOGE led to a spike in website traffic by over 1,000%.
The company had at the time acquired a 15% stake in the world’s largest Dogecoin and Litecoin mining facility. In a press statement released two days ago, the company revealed that the abnormal spike in traffic effectively resulted in a temporary outage of the website.
In yet another case of enthusiastic reception for DOGE, Komodo has announced that its decentralized exchange platform for cryptocurrency had received a great response. Launched on March 1st, DogeDex’s successful start is proof of growing investor confidence in Dogecoin.
Technical outlook
The DOGE/USD pair will find support at $0.0551, followed by the mostly-sideways trading. The first resistance level will be established at $0.0569. A break beyond that point will drive prices to the second resistance level at $0.0584.
